But in no way whatsoever is the most noticeable aspect of getting in shape your body’s appearance – to you. The most noticeable aspect to you is the way you feel, the positive change in your health, it’s the increase in strength, the endurance, the drop in blood pressure, and the knowledge you are doing an activity with the power to increase both the quality and the quantity of your life!

This little dude has an overabundance of self-esteem!

Let’s face it, the media, models, movie stars, etc. tell us what we should look like to a certain extent. Whether that’s right or wrong we gather what’s “ideal” from those in the public eye. Keeping in shape is good for everyone. But when we have self-image problems because we aren’t a size 2 and photoshopped – then that can be a problem.

I’m a firm believer that people should stay at a healthy body fat, body weight (weight differs per individual remember) and size. People should not be huffing and puffing carrying in groceries, and people certainly need to lose excess body fat…

But there is fine line between having a fit, healthy, attractive body – and wanting to look like a Victoria’s Secret model.  Being waife thin isn’t an ideal state to be in, just as being overweight isn’t an ideal state. Even if you have a realistic body weight goal in mind you need to look at the underlying mental issue that supports that goal. Do you want to get to that weight/fitness level because you want to achieve it – or because you feel you are worthless or valueless unless you do?

Fitness competitors and bodybuilders face this often – they are getting in shape for an event that requires them to look good for others. I think this is fine, but they shouldn’t place their self-image on the line either. If they don’t come in 1^st place…it’s just someone’s opinion. And you know what they say about opinions…they are like…well you get the picture…

For the everyday fitness enthusiast I think concentrating on performance is a great and noble goal. After all, performance is going to have the greatest impact on your life. Check out just a few of the benefits of “getting in shape” that aren’t even related to looks:

• Ability to do everyday tasks easier

• Lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol

• Less risk of heart disease

• Less risk of diabetes

• Less medication

• Less risk of cancer

• Ability to chase after kids and grandkids (priceless)

• Ability to live to try to chase after kids and grandkids (MORE priceless)

• Increase in stamina

• Increase in endurance

• Longer lifespan

• Better quality of life

• Maintain youthfulness in body and spirit years longer

• Decrease depression

• Increase bone density

I know some of those seem monotonous – but trust me they aren’t. What those bullet points represent is your life and the ability to do every single activity in it – better.

OK, maybe you won't be able to do this - but you will be able to walk on your feet a lot better...

Now that’s pretty powerful stuff, and it has absolutely nothing to do with looking like a movie star or sporting a six pack.

So what is your goal? What do you really want – and why do you want it?

If you think you would like to look fantastic because that will make you the person you want to be –because it will change your personality – will get you the girl – the guy, or make gold dust fall out of the sky, and a unicorn pop out of your butt (maybe not a good thing?) – then I got news for you. It ain’t gonna happen, and your priorities need to change.  For good things to happen in your life, you need a positive self-image, and that comes from within. Get comfortable with who you are, then get in shape for yourself.

The truth is that a vibrant self-image is just as attractive as an attractive body.

Have you ever seen someone who wasn’t “classically” good looking but somehow projected an “aura” of self-confidence, self-assuredness and charisma – and thereby was considerably more attractive? That person had a strong self-image, and that shows you the power of being secure in your own skin.

Get comfy with who you are – there is nobody else in the world like you (no I’m not going to use that stupid snowflake analogy).

Once you have a strong self-image – there may still be some things you’d like to change about your body. That’s fine – but that decision is now being made by a stable person and from a stable mental environment. It’s what I call making a healthy self-image healthier.

The first goal in your life should be health, endurance, vitality, quantity of life, and quality of life. Don’t get it twisted, without your health and the ability to accomplish everyday tasks – you have nothing (wow, so many analogies and so little time – I danced around the ‘without your health you don’t have anything’ one pretty good huh?)

So take a minute and examine your fitness priorities and make sure they are where they should be. Getting involved in exercise and fitness is about a lot more than looks – but sometimes it’s oh so easy to get caught in the media’s trap of the perfect body.

Don’t do it! Get in shape for you, and make sure your self-image is healthy as well. Then let a fantastic nutrition plan and a great exercise program make that already healthy self-image blossom into one that’s even more vibrant, healthy, and strong.

If you do that, not only will you look like a million bucks – but you’ll feel like a million bucks as well. And trust me, that’s where the real riches lie…

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

You are rolling over enemy territory, explosions surround you – gunfire rattles from countless enemies hidden in the darkness. You can only see a few feet ahead – based on that you decide where to go next. That’s a good thing, because if you could see the thousands of enemies and obstacles still to come on your journey – even your nerves might get rattled.

You squint your eyes to see through the wafting smoke, the flashing of distant explosions light up the horizon. You know many trials await – but still you push on through the night. A bead of sweat rolls into your eyes; it burns – you are uncomfortable, you are scared, and part of you wants to be at home. Safe at home. But the bigger part wants to succeed…and refuses to succumb.

One thing at a time. Roll on.

Conquer. Roll on.

Fail. Roll on.

Try again. Roll on.

Nobody said it would be easy. But you must push on...

Seldom does the path turn out to be what you thought it would – so you improvise on the fly to keep the edge. At any moment you could be destroyed – but you keep going anyway. You know that the only real way to lose this war is to stop – to give up. You know the sick, sinking feeling of defeat – and you don’t like it. In fact you hate it. So you roll on.

You are a tank.

You are a warrior. You are unstoppable. You can be delayed, you can be knocked down – but you know that people who never quit eventually taste victory. Somewhere you know there is someone else who wouldn’t quit. Someone else who would work this hard. Are they better than you? No way. Roll on.

In order to succeed, you must become a tank. Conquering things that seem impossible by doing them one step at a time – rolling over them. Tasting rejection – feeling the pain – then rolling on anyway. Feeling failure and temporary defeat – and refusing to give in and make that defeat permanent. Roll on.

Are you invincible? Hardly.

Alas even a tank needs reparation. Even a tank needs time to heal and contemplate the next move.  A tank isn’t a nuclear bomb – it doesn’t clear all obstacles in one flail swoop (that is in reference to a hunting bird taking prey btw – just learned that today) A tank takes its enemies one at a time, kaizen, slow steady progress.

Don’t be afraid to take a deep breath now and then. In Ian Fleming’s novel Casino Royale, he says this of James Bond on the first page, in the second paragraph ever written about the Secret Agent:

“James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always knew when his body and mind had had enough and he always acted on the knowledge. This helped him avoid staleness and the sensual bluntness that breeds mistakes.”  Fleming, Ian. Casino Royale: Macmillan Publishers, 1954.

I wrote a poem circa 2000 that I would like to share with you. I remember writing it; it was after some terrible failure of a plan – I can’t recall which one because I’ve had so many. But I remember the feeling I had – exhaustion. I was barely holding on to hope – then I went to my notepad and this just kind of came out of me:

“The Warrior rests his weary head cause’ he’s very tired,

that’s true. But the Warrior won’t give up you see, until

this battles through.”

Granted it’s not long, and it’s not complicated – but it sums the topic up pretty well. It speaks of the times when I reach my limit – and need to enter into the subconscious realm of sleep. It speaks of a time of recharging – a time to rest before doing battle again.

It speaks of a long deep breath. It speaks of a day to get your mind off things – or if you are in dire straits – a few days.

Not talking about this Dire Straits...

Be a tank.

 But know when to recharge and take cover. Take a minute to find yourself when you are stretched too thin.

The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” rings true. And if it was indeed easily built in a day it wouldn’t be very special now would it?

Expect to fail. Expect to try again. Expect to go slow, to have setbacks, to be discouraged – expect rejection, expect tears, and expect pain.

Expect these things and know there is light at the end of the tunnel. All great things in life require time to achieve; they require the weathering of many storms.

Goals are noble endeavors, but don’t rush them. Don’t rush life and ambition. Kaizen is the Japanese word for constant, steady improvement. It’s also a word you should ingrain deep in your psyche.

If you are improving everyday – if you are moving forward into enemy territory – pushing yourself to heights where you feel slightly “uncomfortable”, then you are a tank. You will be successful. Be a tank. In fitness, in work, in spirit, and in life. Roll on…

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

That’s well and good – and doesn’t shock anyone – but the truth is there are two sides to this coin. So what’s the other side?

"I'm so overweight - don't see any clues as to what could be causing it...maybe it's the Trans Fats!"

Orthorexia. A lot of people have never heard of this condition – and until a while back I hadn’t heard of it either. It’s basically an obsession with eating healthy food. While on the surface this seems harmless – it can be a big problem.

First of all there are no bad foods. One could argue that Trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and sugar are bad foods…but the truth of the matter is that moderation is the key. In small amounts these media labeled “poisons” cause little if any issues.

In my opinion the reason these “little devils” are singled out one at a time is to avoid the giant (and real) monster that is attacking us every day. The monster we should worry about is over consumption – and a better word for it is gluttony. In order to avoid being guilty of gluttony we will push the blame off on just about anything.

“I’m overweight because of high fructose corn syrup.”

“I’m fat because aspartame really isn’t calorie free.”

“Trans Fats are killing us.”

This is all well and good – but weighing in 50lbs or more overweight (I’ve been there) might have a little to do with those health issues and mortality rates as well. The fact is that everything is killing us. Too much of everything. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup – all of them. They are all killing us daily – because we eat enough of them to sustain 2 people on average.

That’s right, on average in the USA we eat enough food to sustain at least 1 ½ adults. 2800 calories/day is about the average, and most people need no more than 2000 calories (many might not need that many every single day). A big percentage of Americans consume even more than this. Gives a new meaning to the term “eating for two” huh?

Until we admit that we are eating too much – little can be done in the way of improving health and obesity. But let’s face it – it’s not fun to admit you are committing one of the seven deadly sins – gluttony- on a daily basis. Admit it anyway, and fix it. I admit I’m a glutton right now – but I don’t allow myself to give into the temptation (at least the majority of the time).

OK, so back to obsession with healthy food. I have known many people who eat pristine diets – organic this, no pesticide that – whole grains, legumes, leafy greens and gluten free – but still are overweight. What gives?

Well, these people are eating too many calories to sustain their bodies. Regardless of the source of the calories – if you eat too many of them you will wear them as adipose tissue. In other words you’ll carry the extra calories (fat) from steel cut oats and egg whites around just like the extra calories (fat) from Trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. I’ve heard the following many times:

“I can eat as much of this as I want – it’s low carb.”

“These can’t be making me overweight – they have Omega 3’s.”

We have to watch the overall amount of fuel going into our bodies – and there is absolutely no substitute for that. We can’t eat as much as we want of anything – no matter how healthy or “clean” it may be. A love handle made from super healthy food looks exactly like a love handle made from Mars Bars. Trust me on that – there’s no such thing as an attractive love handle. So problem number 1 from Orthorexia is the that it promotes gluttony because it’s deemed “healthy”.

Honestly, do you really care whether this thing is made up from too many grilled chicken breasts or too many Hershey bars? Too much is too much - period.

Problem number 2 is that nothing taken to the extreme is healthy. Depriving yourself of good tasting foods is a recipe for disaster. If you eat nothing but plain rice, chicken breasts, and tuna in water then what kind of life is that?

Food is one of the great pleasures in life – and if you deprive yourself of tasty treats now and then you aren’t really experiencing life to its fullest. I really don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like a good brownie or a piece of cake – so if you like it – have it now and then!

The problem in America isn’t that cake or brownies exist – or even that people eat them – it’s that they eat them too often and in too big of portions!

I’ve been Orthorexic – and I’ve been completely in the opposite direction – GLUTTONOUS – and let me tell you, neither extreme is where you want to be. One direction has hunger, deprivation, and constant watching of the food network (maybe that was just me) – the other direction has indigestion, high blood pressure, a 44 inch waist (that was just me) and huffing and puffing up 6 stairs.

Fall in the middle. Have some treats now and then and keep things under control at the same time. Just because Dairy Queen has 2 for 1 blizzards doesn’t mean you have to have one every day this week. Eat within your limits all week and go get one on Saturday.

That way when you walk in DQ, you’ll be doing so with a tight, trim body and a feeling that you “deserve” a treat. There is nothing better than accomplishing your goals for the week and taking yourself out for a treat as a reward.

Dude may have taken it too far...

Trust me if you are wearing size 32 waist pants or a size 6-8 (for the ladies) clothing size and you are eating a blizzard – you ain’t doing nothin’ wrong. You deserve it.

In this age of gluttony and plenty, keeping things under control and staying lean is quite the triumph – and when you triumph you deserve a reward. Don’t deprive yourself…let moderation be your calling card – just like it is for CE-Fitness.

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

Pre 1800’s (all the way up to the 1940’s actually) man was a working machine. Manual labor was abundant and food was scarce.

To put it in simple terms, we worked out all of the time – and often ate in a calorie deficit. That sounds an awful lot like what we call a “fitness program” nowadays huh?

Forget Loaded Burrito's - In The Old Days We Used To Look Down The Barrel of Two Loaded Mules...

Well that’s because it was…you see actually we are designed to be on a fitness program genetically.

Our bodies are designed to work and run on very little food. Our bodies have adapted over hundreds and thousands of years to run on small amounts of fuel and do maximum work.

But something tragic has happened over the last 100 years or so – food has become easy to get and manual work has become scarce. This shift has caused what was a perfectly designed machine (our bodies) to become inefficient in today’s world.

If we had our way – we would elect to absorb roughly half of the food we consume on a daily basis – and we’d be all the better for it. We’d all be slim and trim, and even absorbing half of our daily intake most of us would have plenty of fuel to survive.

Unfortunately your body doesn’t adapt that quickly. Thousands of years of survival based evolution can’t be undone in a mere 100 years of plenty. So your body continues to sock away all of the excess fuel you consume with perfect efficiency – and you end up looking like the Michelin Man (or woman).

Here’s a little factoid – in the 1970’s the average American consumed around 2300 calories daily. Today the average American consumes around 2800 calories! We are eating 500 calories more a day than we were 30 years ago…

Not only that but activity level is way down – and manual labor is getting less manual by the day. Our machinery and technology are taking over more and more of our calorie burning activity – and that’s a bad formula.

In fact it’s a formula for obesity – and that’s exactly what we are getting (I guess we know the formula is working). So basically if we put it into an equation:

More Food + Less Work = Thunder Thighs

It’s a simple equation – but one that isn’t easily solved.

So what’s the answer to undoing this nasty bit of arithmetic? Well, since your body isn’t going to evolve over the course of your lifetime, or your kids or your kids, kids, kids lifetime – you need to go up the chain of command. You need to take this to the head honcho, the big cheese, The Godfather…

When It Comes To Your Body - You Are In Control...

Your Mind.

You see, you have the ability to do anything you like with your body – with the use of your mind. Your mind truly is The Godfather, and you have the power to give your body an “offer it can’t refuse.”

So your body refused to adapt to the new circumstances of the world and it’s environment? So what. Put a horse head in its bed. You are in control.

When it comes to weight loss you are the one who has the power. Your mind tells your hands to pick up the cake, your mind tells your hand to lift it to your mouth, and your mind tells your mouth to chew and swallow it (I mention cake because I had some last night, hey, nobody’s perfect). Your mind can also tell you not to.

You have to eat less and you have to make “artificial work”. You have to get out and run, walk or garden. You have to keep your mind on other things besides your next meal.

You don’t have the luxury of the self-sustaining “fitness program” that your ancestors enjoyed. You don’t have 10 cows to milk, a field to be plowed by hand or with a mule – or timber to be cut to keep you from freezing to death. You have to make a fitness program yourself (or hire a taskmaster…er trainer like me to do it for you and hold you accountable)!

And food? Why do we think about it all the time? Probably because that’s what kept us alive back in the day. Our ancestors had to sit and think about food – because if they didn’t think about whether or not they could eat an opossums larynx, then they probably didn’t eat squat that day. And an opossums larynx probably has a whopping 23 calories.

Now we sit around and think about which drive through we want to go through and get 1000 calories handed to us.

I truly think it’s the same mechanism of evolution. We still want to get as much food as possible, and we still want to think about it all the time.

Poor Bugger Will Be Obese Within 30 Days..

We still want to avoid as much manual work as possible, which was fantastic thing when you had 100 acres to plow – but now we think of ways not to get up and turn off the T.V. We even think of ways to speak to the computer to keep from typing.

This whole thing has gone waaaaaayyyy too far! And the only one that can stop it is you…or actually – The Godfather. Your mind.

You have to make manual labor – reduce the amount of food you consume, so you can enjoy it and appreciate it – and stay busy enough not to think about food all day long.

You have to, or else you will acquire disease, grow worthless floppy tissue all over your body, and eventually become disabled. You have to because if you eat it and don’t burn it off, you wear it – and no two ways about it – it’s ugly. You have to because you don’t want to leave your kids early, or worse yet contribute to their destruction by giving them the same habits.

You have to because you can fix it. Because your mind is so much more powerful than an extra slice of pizza or a doughnut. You have to because your life, the lives of your family and the life of our culture depend on it.

But mostly you have to because it’s what you really want; it’s the way you want to be. In control, the boss, The Godfather. So give that fat an offer it can’t refuse – more exercise and less food – and take back control from evolution. Trust me, evolution is not going to do the work for you - so you have to show it who’s boss…

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

Cinnamon Apple Crunch!

1 Medium Fuji Apple – Cut in half and core (80 Cals)

1 Low Fat Graham Cracker (120 Cals)

2 Tsp. Cinnamon

2 Packets Nutrasweet

4 Servings Fat Free Redi Whip (20 Cals)

Put apple in microwavable bowl with 2 packets of NutraSweet and 2 tsp. Cinnamon. Cook for 1-2 minutes until apples are soft.

Crush Graham cracker and top the apple halves.

Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes, then top with Fat Free Redi Whip

Total Calories: 220

This is a great recipe for a treat – coming in at 220 calories it’s hard to beat when you get a craving for apple pie! Add a scoop of protein or some greek yogurt and you add enough protein for a great meal! You can use less graham to get the cals down even further!

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

I’m going to talk about something we all love today. Something that fits everyone’s “taste”…. FLAVOR! Everyone likes good eats, but today we are going to talk about drawing the line between healthful and flavorful (it’s not a straight line by the way) and how we can make any food taste better…by returning to our roots.

I was watching a KET program the other day about a guy who lived in the wilds of Alaska for 30 years. This dude lived alone and off the land for 3 decades! He certainly didn’t have a weight problem, and lived a long life. A couple of his quotes really stood out to me.

Below is a video sample of the documentary. Quite amazing – and will remind you of how far we’ve come in the last 200 years!

OK, back to the quotes.The first thing he said was that he thought the human body preferred to live on similar foods each day. I don’t really have a lot of science to back that up – in fact some science says we develop “allergies” to food we consume too often – but the concept makes sense to me.

I know that when I eat the same type of foods every day I lose weight more effectively. It’s not because the foods I eat work better than other foods; it’s because I’m able to gauge what I’m eating more effectively.

I learn the amount of fuel in each meal – then I just repeat the process daily and watch the fat go away.

I just do this when fat loss is my major goal. This winter I was maintaining and really didn’t eat the same foods that often. But every time I shift into “fat loss” mode – I notice that I start eating my favorite meals with more consistency. It’s easier to repeat something that works than to try and re-invent the wheel at every meal (poet and didn’t know it)!

It just kind of naturally happens – and I believe it’s because it’s sort of stressful to lose fat. Fat loss is a lot of math and wondering how much you ate today, how much you burned off etc. and that is stressful. When you eat the same foods daily, foods that you know are within your calorie limits – it takes away some of that stress, you don’t have to add up things as much, and you know you did well that day.

Honestly some might say it’s boring to eat the same foods. Losing fat is a personality thing. Try it, see if it works for ya.

That was just a thought – the amount of calories you consume on a daily basis determine whether you lose, gain or stay the same – but I do notice it’s easier to keep track of when you use foods you’ve already “figured up” the calories on.

OK, so that was my opinion on food consistency during a fat loss phase.

Now for my opinion on hunger and flavor.

Another quote that this Alaskan survivor stated was that he “seasoned his food with hunger”. Now that is a great quote – and if you’ve ever been hungry (we as Americans seldom are these days) the you’ll understand what he’s talking about.

A great example happened to me yesterday. I went home to my parents house in Keavy and washed and waxed my car (I even got a little bit of a tan). I had a 160 calorie protein drink about noon, and then didn’t eat again until 6pm.

By that time I was famished and went inside my parents house to rummage up some vittles (hey, I was in Keavy).

All I found was eggs and toast. So I fried up 3 egg whites (I really don’t like egg whites) and toasted some bread. I found pepper and salt – but that’s about it.

So I slapped the egg whites on the bread, cracked some pepper on there, salted that puppy and started eating. It was delicious.

I don’t mean good, or OK, or “better than nothing”. It was AWESOME. Now maybe my parents had magic eggs. Maybe the toast was baked by a special baker flew into the Great Value factory (that’s right, it wasn’t even name brand bread), but I’m guessing that I just unknowingly “seasoned my food with hunger”.

About halfway through the sandwich I remembered what that old Alaskan said and cracked a smile (with egg in my teeth of course). He was right.

We are wrong – everything doesn’t have to be deep fried and coated in sugar. We don’t have to have French fries with every meal (Fries are my favorite food, but honestly they are pretty much useless).

We are freakin’ spoiled. It’s ridiculous.

Maybe we should all go hungry a while until we appreciate “nourishment” instead of just “flavor”. It worked for me – I learned a lesson yesterday.

Season your food with hunger. Yup. That Alaskan was right.

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

Master These Five Qualities And You're Guaranteed To Be A Champ!

Well, as I write this big things are afoot in Lexington! The biggest game for UK in a while is about to start! I suppose by the time you read this you’ll know if Kentucky is champion or runner up – but honestly there is no shame in either!

But since this isn’t a basketball blog…

Today I wanted to talk with you a bit about qualities. Stand out personal qualities that I notice over and over in my successful clients – qualities that seem to point towards success or failure in fitness…

Hardly anyone has all of these qualities – but the more of them you get going for you, the bigger your chances of success. Getting fit and losing weight is not easy – and everyone stumbles at some point along the narrow, winding road to a great, healthy physique.

But if we can just get these going for us – the road becomes a lot less narrow, and results come a LOT faster. So without further ado, let’s discuss the top 5 qualities it takes to be a successful fitness client!

1. Stay Busy – This is a super important quality that most of my successful clients have. They stay busy, have a lot of hobbies, and just enjoy life! Stay busy and keep active and food will become less of an outlet for your pent up frustrations. Biking, walking, playing a sport, washing the car – all of these are great outlets for energy that don’t involve snacking on the couch (not that I think you’d ever eat a couch). Master this one and you’ll be ahead of the game.

2. Have Goals! – Setting goals is integral to success because it gives you a target to aim for. Whether you really get the “abs of Brad Pitt” or a “butt like Angelina Jolie” isn’t the issue here; it’s about constant progress toward the “best you”. Find a target, aim for it – and shoot! I guarantee you’ll end up a lot closer to the goal than if you’d never had one in the first place! There is no tragedy in not “exactly”  reaching your goals, but there is a huge tragedy in not having any!

3. Food Is NOT RECREATION – This is probably the number 1 thing that I have trouble with in my own life. One of my favorite things to do is to put a “taco dinner” or “homemade pizza” at the end of my day as a reward. I’ll think “Wow, today is hard, but when I get home tonight I’ll eat tacos!” Let me tell you from experience that having a reward meal every few days will do one thing for you: IT WILL MAKE YOU FAT. Rewarding yourself once a week will usually be fine – rewarding yourself every 3^rd day, or every time you think you have done something positive will only give you a terminal case of “fatittis”. Trust me, I know. Use food for what it is – fuel – and only occasionally for a treat.

4. Plan Your Day – The clients that do the best on a nutrition plan and drop the most weight usually have a pretty good idea of what they are going to eat – before they eat it. They usually have a planned breakfast, a “regular” lunch spot, and a choice of a few dinners that they know the calorie count on. They sway from this only occasionally, because it’s just easier and less stressful to keep your foods similar each day. Sitting down and picking out your favorite meals in advance, calculating them, and eating them consistently throughout the week is a great help when maintaining your nutrition plan.

5. Realize You’ll Mess Up – When talking to clients I can tell if they have their “mind in the game” by how they react when they screw up and over consume on their food intake. If a client wants to jump off  a cliff I know that they still haven’t realized one important fact: We all mess up, and it’s not the end of the world. If they just don’t care at all – well, then we have another problem! The truth is there should be just the right amount of “anger” and “disgust” when you eat over your calorie limit for the day. A little disgust makes you get back on track quickly and fix the problem; too much and you might say “well I’ve messed up now, may as well quit.” Try to remember nobody is perfect – and that you WILL mess up from time to time. Use the mistake as fuel to ignite the flame of desire within – desire for your goals, and desire to do better.

So there you have it – the top 5 qualities that make a great, successful, and happy fitness client! The more of these you have, the better your chances for success in this difficult (but rewarding) endeavor! If you have anything else to add, do so in the comment section below! I wanna hear from ya!

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

It’s a good half of my job – unless you are a fitness freak you probably won’t work out unless I come and push you – and even if you do, you probably won’t push yourself to the limit. And you probably won’t eat right unless I’m weighing you and makin’ you “fess up” to your bad (or good) deeds. That’s called being a normal person. I have a hard enough time with it, and fitness is my life! The best performers in the world have coaches (Tiger Woods has had two!), not because of lack of skill – because of accountability and being pushed to their best efforts!

Let’s get another thing straight. I love to eat – and relate to every one of my clients troubles and problems when reducing their caloric intake. Did I mention I love to eat? Yeah, that means sooner or later I’m gonna eat some cake. About once a week I have a few hours to eat what I want – but I still try to make it as healthy as possible. And what better way to eat some cake than reduce the calories in that sucker?

I topped mine with Fat Free Cool Whip to save more calories

Remember the old joke about the guy who goes to the fast food joint and gets a burger, fries, and a “diet” drink? Hahaha. Stop laughing. That guy saved about 500 calories. That joke sucks.

Sure, it still ain’t gonna be that good for you – but it beats the crap out of eating a full fledged super calorie normal cake.

Sooner or later we all have to have something that tastes good. So if it can still taste good and be a bit healthier, I say we go for it man!

Final thing I want to get straight: I pretty much think Dr. Oz is a stange, off the wall, weirdo (can I say that? Oh yeah I can, it’s my blog). But every now and then the dude spews something that isn’t worthless from his mouth – and in this case it was club soda…err…and cake…Anyway this kind of cake is nothing new, but the recipe was recently on his show. I tried it – and it was great.

Club Soda in a cake - whooda thunk it?

Basically what you do is replace the eggs and oil in a regular cake mix with a can of club soda. Mix it to the consistency of a “normal” cake batter – and bake that sucka for 30 minutes. I recommend using a toothpick to test it incrementally – no two ovens I’ve came in contact with in this life have ever had remotely the same cooking times.

Then get it out and eat up. It saves about 100 calories per slice, and 1200 calories per cake. Now that’s worthwhile.

Final warning – don’t do this stuff more than once a week or you WILL wear that cake. It’s a reward, not a privilege to eat things like this – but when you can string together 6 1/2 days or so of good eating within your caloric limits – you deserve a treat. Preferably one that won’t derail you – and this one won’t.

So check out this recipe – and try it out the next time you a due for a “reward”! It’s delicious and won’t inflate the thighs and love handles nearly as much as a regular cake! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Box of Moist Style Cake

1 Twelve Ounce Can of Club Soda

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

Being a Personal Trainer means absorbing information from everyone you meet- and then spreading that info to the rest of Lexington, Kentucky, and hey, maybe even the world!

Tonight I’m watching the NCAA Tournament, but I wanted to shoot out a quick blog to showcase some great new foods I’ve discovered.

So here are two more foods to add to your Fitness Arsenal. These are both from friends and clients -  so I can’t take credit for them. I am, however, chowing down on them pretty regularly nowadays

#1. Hillshire Farms Grilled Essentials Chicken Breasts

These chicken breasts are fantastic, and at only 120 calories and 19g of protein they are easy to fit into your daily nutrition. Here are the flavors available:

• Italian Style Chicken Breast

• Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast

• Garlic & Herb Chicken Breast

• Grilled Chicken Breast

I personally like the Italian flavor best, but all them are excellent. These are located right around the lunch meat, in the refrigerated section (not frozen). They are wrapped individually in plastic and you just microwave for 1 minute. EASY.  Try these with some instant mashed potatoes and vegetables – or alone with veggies for a super low cal dish!

#2. Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Patties

I love these little patties! The serving size is 2 patties, and they come in at 120 calories (for two) and 13g of protein! Not what you would typically expect from sausage! These are pre-cooked, so they just take a couple of minutes in the microwave.

They also come in links and crumbles. I personally haven’t tried the links or crumbles, but have heard they are delicious as well.

Serve these up with eggs, egg whites, toast or just by themselves. Get creative!

So there you have it, two great new foods that you can add to your war chest immediately to get an extra edge in the “battle of the bulge”. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do (daily). Leave a comment below and tell me what you think! Got another great low cal food we need to know about? Tell us about that as well!

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.

Gluten is the protein in wheat and grain products, it gives bread structure and a chewy texture.

After all I got down to an astoundingly low body fat percentage eating it every single day – and I love wheat. I would venture to say that all of my favorite foods contain flour – and the chewier and doughier the better.

Still, there is so much going on with the Gluten intolerance thing – surely everyone can’t be living in a fantasy world – or can they?

That is what we are going to be discussing today – the intricacies of this gluten debate –and exactly what it means to your exercise/nutrition program.

OK, so first of all the most serious disorder associated with gluten is for people with Celiac Disease (CD).  Since that only affects somewhere between 0.3% and 1.2% of the population – it was pretty much regarded as what I personally call “Sasquatch Phenomenon”.

That means not only have you not seen a Squatch – but quite possibly none of your friends have either. Also even if they said they seen one – you’d probably think they were full of it.

Still they do exist (people with CD, not Sasquatches -  we all know they exist silly).

"Good grief, Irritable Bowel Syndrome from Gluten Sensitivity drives me to the creek bed for a "movement", then the paparazzi drives me back into the woods to eat more gluten. It's a vicious circle."

However, things have changed – now there is also something called Gluten Sensitivity (GS) which may affect more people, and thus give gluten intolerance a bit more “street cred”. The following is a pure quote from one of the most no nonsense, science based, nutrition geniuses in existence – Mr. Alan Aragon (I’ve highlighted his text, so you know it’s him speaking not me):

Suffice it to say that I may be the first person to call the Paleo diet the Faileo diet . It’s basically nonsense combined with a lot of speculation & assumption of prehistory.

For the vast majority of healthy individuals, there’s nothing wrong with grains as long as you fit them into your macronutrient targets for the day. Aside from folks with clinically diagnosed celiac disease (CD), some folks claim to have a subclinical intolerance to gluten-containing grains (also called non-celiac gluten sensitivity; NCGS or simply GS). In my observations, most of those folks tend toward hypochondria. Nevertheless, there is emerging evidence in support of the idea that NCGS is a real rather than imagined phenomenon. So, the main challenge in this area is arriving at reliable diagnostic methods for GS. To quote a recent review,

“Until only a few years ago, almost the whole of the scientific world maintained that gluten would provoke negative effects only in CD and in cases linked to IgE-mediated allergies, both of which are rare in adults and more frequent in the pediatric population. More recently, however, progress has been made toward the hypothesis that a form of gluten intolerance exists that’s different from celiac disease, defined as non-celiac gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity (GS), and it is estimated that for every person who has CD, there are at least six or seven people who have GS. Therefore, wheat allergy, CD, and GS combined together may affect about 10% of the general population.” – Alan Aragon

It’s me again – and here is a valid study backing up what Alan is saying – that new methods of diagnosis will give us even more data:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21181303

From what I have seen, experienced with others, and read about through science – I must say that this stuff probably exists, but if you are experiencing some sort of “effect” it probably doesn’t stem from this. Notice I said “probably”. There is a solid 10% chance you could be having issues, but it’s not the first place to look.

Gluten And UFO’s – Like Peanut Butter and Jelly…

First of all I’d like to say I’ve seen things – and I have an open mind toward UFO’s and other phenomenon – so after stating that I want you to read the following analogy.

 If you went outside and consistently found a burned patch of land 100 yards from your house, you would have several choices as to what caused the charred earth.

Now you could say that it was caused by a UFO’s anti – gravity propulsion system. That the system incrementally must “dump” charred ember from its centrifugal g-force stabilization system, and that ember is responsible for the circular burn in your yard every weekend.

"OK, OK, I'm responsible for the cigarette butts, but not the beer cans. Now can you get that flashlight out of my eyes?"

Or you could go the more “down to earth” route and attribute the burn to the neighbor kids weekend field party bonfires (hmmm….maybe those empty beer cans, cigarette butts and thumping music should have given a clue).

The point is to go with the big rocks first – then you can attack the grains of sand (errr…wheat). Here is a little something from the bible:

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:5

Now I’m not calling anyone a hypocrite, but the point is solid. We must first see if the 500 calorie surplus in our daily diet is causing the bloat and indigestion. Then if you diet down to a good body fat percentage, but still are bloated and feel like poo – it might be time to look into some other issues.

Sometimes it seems this way...

Also notice I said “other issues”. Because if you are going to look at gluten, you must also look at milk – another food that causes intolerances. And if you decide to look at milk, you better also look at peanuts, because those little rascals have some bad connotations. If you decide to look into that you should eliminate strawberries – which some sources site as “the most allergenic fruit”. You get the picture…

There is a word I want to leave you with – and it wasn’t until recently that I even knew this word existed. It’s called Orthorexia – obsession with eating healthy foods.

Sure it LOOKS healthy...but honestly I'm a little freaked out about the calories in those tomatoes...

I’m a big believer in a healthy diet – as you well know, I’ve made a living helping others stay lean, fit and healthy. But the fact is that things can be taken too far…how do I know? Because I’ve been about as Orthorexic as anyone can be – and I came back from the brink.

I still have problems with food, and I’ll get into that more in an upcoming blog on, you guessed it, Orthorexia – but there is a balance in life folks.

If you are going to worry about something, it will quickly stem to something else.

We all know not to stick our hands on a hot stove or we’ll get burned. We all know cigarettes cause cancer. We all know that eating large amounts of fat, sugar and excess calories cause diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Yet those things rank lower in popularity than gluten intolerance and the king of controversy – artificial sweeteners. There isn’t even solid data on those two, and yet they are the ones we look at first.

If one of your legs is a bit tangled in your Surfboard rope, and one is being chewed off by a great white – I would suggest putting most of your attention toward the leg inside the big fishie. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

This cat's got bigger things to worry about than a tangled Surfboard Rope...much bigger.

Until we get the boulders out of the way – I’d say we ought not to worry about the pebbles in our path.

When you get healthy, trim, and in fantastic shape – but there is still an issue – then you can look deeper. Until then, enjoy your life – and keep things in perspective!

Jay Scott is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, NPC National Level Bodybuilder, Fitness Model, Author and Nutrition Coach. Jay owns CE-Fitness, a Personal Training business in Lexington, KY. Jay has been helping people lose weight and transform their bodies since 1998. Contact him at jay@cefitness.net or visit his site at www.cefitness.net for books, products, training options and more.